Sunday, May 04, 2014

Stanger than fiction? There are circumstantial reasons
to believe that the characters of Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia Hawks in Edna Ferber’s novel
“Showboat,” and in the subsequent musical, were based on my grandfather Charles Gallaher and his first wife Grace Dennison. The character of of their daughter, Kim, though female, could also be
based on my half-uncle Donald Gallaher.

Back in 2003, I had a
one-on-one meeting with my musical theater writing teacher John at Theatre Building Chicago.I presented
him with three one-page synopses of ideas for musicals I had come up with, for
which I hoped to write book and lyrics. One was about a family relative, Neysa McMein, an artist
and member of the Algonquin Round Table; another, a children’s one-act musical,
which I called “The Cat and the Kings,” based on an old Danish folk tale
“Peter Humbug and the White Cat;” and lastly, a musical about the early Chicago
jazz era called “Black and Tan,” which contained opening scenes set on a Mississippi
showboat, with the remainder of the drama taking place in Chicago.

John wanted me to first pursue the
children’s musical the coming year, but was also interested in my eventual
development of the “Black and Tan” piece. He said he saw a lot of potential in it and many musical possibilities
within the story. Also, almost as an aside, he observed that it seemed rather
“showboat-y.” At first, I thought he meant it might be too flamboyant or “in
your face,” like someone who’s “showboating.” But it really isn’t that type of
story. I quickly realized he meant it resembled the musical “Showboat.”

I
was taken aback somewhat and felt a little embarrassed because, even though I attested to familiarity with most American musicals, I didn’t know
anything about the musical “Showboat.” I didn’t know the Edna Ferber novel, and had never seen the musical version by Kern and Hammerstein that had the songs “Old Man River”
and “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine.” I didn’t tell the teacher of my
ignorance, as most of my fellow students were well-versed in the majority of
musicals from the late 1920s onward. Also, I was a little alarmed because I
definitely did not have any intention to attempt rehashing a classic. I did not
want to write a musical that was “like Showboat” and cared to change it if
anyone would see a connection, or more accurately, a weak imitation.

I thought about my initial
inspiration for “Black and Tan,” which was my own family and my continuing
interest in the early jazz era of Chicago. My grandfather, Charles
Gallaher,had come from a Quincy,
Illinois, family of newspaper people. Instead of following in family footsteps,
he became a Mississippi river boat gambler and was dubbed the black sheep of
the family back in Quincy. At age 26, he got a 16-year-old girl on the boat by
the name of Grace Dennison pregnant, and married her in 1894. I have their
marriage certificate. In 1895, their son Donald was born. The family moved to Chicago, where Charles got a straight job
setting type at the Chicago Herald.

By the
time son Donald reached age four, stage mom Grace had him cast in a play
at Chicago’s Grand Opera House. One night, New York stage producer Charles Frohman
was in the audience and determined the boy had talent. Soon enough, Grace and Charles’ marriage was a thing of the past, and Grace and son Donald
moved to New York, where she signed a contract with Frohman. Donald soon became
the highest paid juvenile actor on Broadway.

My story synopsis “Black and Tan”
is very loosely based on these family characters. My grandfather’s character
does not appear at all and the Grace Leyden character resembles Grace Dennison,
who moved to Chicago, although the latter didn’t pursue a career as a jazz
singer. And son Jimmy resembled Donald who fulfilled his dreams of filming and
recording by directing a few early talkies, which he did later in his career.
All the jazz connections and relationships that make up most of the story have
nothing to do with my family.

I did a little
research and found online synopses of both the novel and musical “Showboat.” I
was amazed by what I discovered. As I said, my teacher had found my “Black and
Tan” synopsis “Showboat-y.” But my family’s real story is so very “Showboat-y,”
that I believe that it is in fact the basis for the actual “Showboat.”

Partial synopsis of the musical
“Show Boat” as it appears on U. of Virginia website: Show Boat is the story
of three generations of the Hawks family on the River Boat, The Cotton Blossom. The saga spans the
period from the mid 1880's to the then current late 1920's, and follows the
fortunes of Magnolia Hawks and her gambling husband Gaylord Ravenal. Magnolia,
or "Noli," struggles throughout the story with her relationship to
the Cotton Blossom, owned by her
parents. In the second act of the book, Noli and Ravenal separate, and she
leaves the familiar stage of the River Boat and the waters of the Mississippi
for Chicago, and a future as a musical comedy star. Magnolia and Ravenal's
daughter, Kim Ravenal, follows in her mother’s footsteps as an actress and
performer.

Partial synopsis of Edna Ferber's novel "Showboat" as it appears on amazon: The story concerns three
generations of women: Parthenia Hawks, a ram-rod upright New Englander who
heartily disapproves of her husband's decision to purchase a show boat and
involve the family with actors, God forbid; her daughter Magnolia, whose fresh
beauty eventually propels her fame as one of the most popular actresses on the
river; and her granddaughter Kim, who becomes a Broadway star. But the backbone
of the story concerns Magnolia'sill-fated love for ne'er-do-well gambler Gaylord Ravenal, a love that
tests her strength to the last degree.

Just as Magnolia has to change to meet
her constantly shifting circumstances, so is the nation changing around her,
gradually shifting from a rather innocent, rural society to a much more
hardened and sophisticated urban world. And Magnolia's adventures will take her
from the savage natural beauty of the mighty Mississippi to the gambling dens
and brothels of 'Gilded Age' Chicago to the jumpiness of the 1920's 'Great
White Way' of New York.

Evidence arises. Donald
Gallaher was eventually cast as Ethel Barrymore’s son in the 1915 Edna Ferber play, “Our
Mrs. McChesney.” I have copies of the New York and Chicago playbills. There is
no way Ferber and Donald would not have met, and the possibility of Ferber
learning the family saga from either Donald or his mother Grace is very strong.

In addition, by the 1920s, Edna Ferber was a close friend
with family cousin Neysa McMein. The two were both members of the Algonquin
Round Table. In fact, Ferber created a character, Dallas O’Mara, in her 1924
novel “So Big” based on Neysa McMein. Neysa may also have told Ferber the
family story, and Ferber, knowing a good juicy yarn when she heard it, moved on
to develop it as a large part of her next novel “Showboat,” which appeared in
1926.

One afternoon, my husband Carlos was chatting on
the phone with an old friend, Marc Zimmerman, a professor who has taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and served as a dean down
at the University of Houston. He's a guy who knows just about everything about
every topic. Carlos relayed the details of my family, not leading him with any
context or reason why he was bringing it up. Zimmerman just said, “Sounds like
Showboat.”

During a musical theater intensive
at Chicago Humanities Festival, I told Robert Kimball, the well-known musical
theater historian, about my family story. He suggested I contact Showboat
expert Miles Kreuger, who is also the author of “Show Boat: The Story of a
Classic American Musical.” Kimball gave me Kreuger’s home phone number. I
called Kreuger and we had a nice chat over the phone for about an hour.
Essentially, what Kreuger told me was “I think you may be onto something.” I
later told Kimball, and his eyes widened.